London, UK - 25th March 2004 - Environmental organisation Greenpeace UK has chosen to work with Linux specialists Ardenta to replace its ageing servers by implementing a storage area network (SAN) to support its 100-strong workforce in the UK.
Ardenta, an IBM "Leader for Linux" accredited business partner, recommended a 2 Terabyte SAN based on the competitively priced IBM FAStT600 storage array. Ardenta was aware of Greenpeace UK's desire to simplify the management of its data for its IT support team, increase production time by reducing the back-up window, and to provide a highly reliable, scalable and secure storage environment at a reasonable price. Another key benefit of the storage array was its on-line expansion capability, a feature that allows system growth with zero disruption.
"Working with Greenpeace UK to develop its storage strategy was a great challenge," noted Neil Truby, Managing Director, Ardenta. "The IBM FAStT600 gives the "big business" capability of a SAN but within small business budgets, and so provided a perfect fit with Greenpeace's requirements."
Ardenta won the contract after a comprehensive bidding process against eleven other IT suppliers, following a meeting with Greenpeace UK at last year's Linux Expo in London. Steve Thomson, Finance and IT director at Greenpeace UK commented: "Ardenta's extensive knowledge of Linux and storage networking made them an ideal partner to help us to address our storage issues. The SAN they recommended shows that they understood our needs well."
The SAN provides archiving and ancillary storage for Greenpeace UK's back office operations, its custom built DB2 database, and office applications, such as Microsoft Exchange Server, which are fundamental to their operation, handling thousands of e-mails each day.
Thomson explains: "I am focused on effectiveness and efficiency. I can't afford our database or e-mails to be unavailable, which is why I chose the SAN. The solution Ardenta has implemented gives us the reliability and scalability as our storage needs grow too."
Greenpeace UK is replacing two Novell servers with the SAN, which sits behind an existing infrastructure of Linux and Microsoft Windows 2000-based servers.
Since 1986, Greenpeace UK has relied on e-mail to support its campaigns, which are often geographically dispersed. In addition to campaign management, e-mail is increasingly the contact medium of choice for enquiries about Greenpeace UK's activities, with over half of all enquiries are now by e-mail. This number is increasing all the time.
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